


Hell of a Journey

by Palizinha



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-10-12
Packaged: 2018-04-22 18:22:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4845668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palizinha/pseuds/Palizinha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When things get complicated following the fall of Sunnydale, an unlikely group ends up working together to fight evil in the town of Yretmond. Not everything goes as planned.<br/>Post-Chosen AU with a few minor changes in S7.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The first few months after the Sunnydale Hellmouth was closed had been interesting to Faith. Between taking care of the Cleveland Hellmouth as Buffy trained the new Slayers and exploring her relationship with Robin, there wasn't much to complain about. Faith hadn't, however, expected the call she got from B about having an assignment for her.

After the Slayer activation spell, it wasn't surprising that more normal citizens had become aware of the supernatural. The Scoobies didn't really consider that, because the spell had been necessary regardless of its consequences and stuff like that.

With Demons and Vampires now being common knowledge, a lot of unforeseen consequences followed. There was an increasing number of people who started researching magic as a way to protect themselves from the creatures of the night, going as far as attacking usually harmless Demons, who of course answered in kind. Another problem was humans using magic on each other, since it was usually easier to hide signs of murder than with normal weapons.

And that's where Faith came in, at least according to Buffy. Cleveland was the biggest supernatural point in the world, holding the only Hellmouth in the world. It was decided that the training of the other Slayers should be moved there, leaving Faith somewhat unnecessary.

Though not a Hellmouth, another town, Yretmond, had a lot of Demon activity and things were really complicated there, making Buffy ask Faith to go to said town, where she apparently would receive extra help.

The Slayer Organization didn't have a base there yet, but Giles had used the Watchers' Council money to buy a house and that was where Faith and Robin were at the moment. She wondered who else B would send, it probably wouldn't be one of the Scoobies, as Willow was apparently AWOL and Xander shared the SO leadership with Buffy. Maybe one of the more well-trained new Slayers.

Faith heard a noise outside and stared at the door, seeing Tara and Andrew go through it.

"Oh, you're both here already! D-Did Buffy explain the whole thing?" Tara asked, looking pretty nervous.

"If by explaining you mean telling me to come here with minimal details, sure," Faith wasn't bitter because the explanation made sense, but she had never technically joined the Slayer Organization. "How are things even going to work?"

“R-Right. Buffy managed a deal with the government, it’s kinda shaky but we’re supposed to get cooperation from the local PD, since they are having trouble managing all the supernatural crimes happening recently,” Tara explained, still seeming extremely uncomfortable. “I-I’m leading this operation.” Well, that was probably the reason. Faith had to admit it was a strange choice, even if she didn’t know the woman well. Tara wasn’t a leader, which was very clear from the way she presented herself, though she was more confident than when they first met. For Faith, Buffy simply didn’t really trust her and had sent Tara to keep tabs on her actions.

But maybe she could be surprised.

“W-We actually already have something to look into, there is a murder case the PD is stumped on and from the report I received when I went look into the terms of the deal with the Yretmond PD, it probably involves magic. The first step is to look into it and figure out whether it’s human magic or something caused by a Demon,” Tara still looked unsure, but her voice got stronger as she explained how things worked, probably because magic was something she knew her way around. “We still don’t have books, but most of the books Mr. Giles managed to get after Sunnydale fell are available on the SO website Willow set up.”

Faith wasn’t really into research, but there were only two computers available in the house Giles got them, so she assumed she could just wait until the others found something and then go hunt it down. That part was always great.

Andrew kept looking to his copy of the report on Shannon Heath’s death like he knew something, Faith would certainly enjoy if he did, but the boy didn’t look exactly useful. After some time he finally said something.

“It’s certainly magic, but I don’t think it was done by a human? The images and apparent effects seemed familiar, and I finally figured out why,” He hesitated, apparently trying to build up courage. That was certainly strange; Andrew never had trouble talking too much from what she had seen of him. “When I was a super villain, we were trying to find a way to successfully stop Buffy if she kept interfering, as she survived even Glarghk Guhl Kashmas’nik and I suggested a Demon that paralyzed the victim’s heart, making them die pretty quickly, but this Demon is hard to control, it also leaves a mark, which could get complicated even considering how awful the Sunnydale PD was. It fits, but I’m not sure it’s this mark.”

That was a wicked good way to kill someone, lucky Andrew’s little super villain group never went through with that. But…

“I-If you could summon this Demon, even if it’s hard to control, it could still be a human murder, right?” Huh, Tara thought about that too. Maybe she would be good to work with.

“I guess? Demon summoning isn’t that common though, and to control one like this it needs a lot of training so it wouldn’t be someone who only found out about magic recently, you can’t go from cadet to Fleet Admiral that fast. It requires dedication, training and experience!” Andrew explained and it made sense, even Willow hadn’t started trying to destroy the world and almost succeeding in high school.

“If using magic is more common now, it could be an old practitioner thinking they could get away with it easily with more people as suspects,” Robin reasoned. “We need to read up on the Demon first, you remember the name?”

Andrew paused a moment but soon remembered the name, Seonnuls, and both Tara and Robin tried to find it on the Slayer Organization database, after a while, Robin found a match.

“Yes, it’s the same mark, that’s our killer,” Faith got up to look at the image of the Demon on the screen while Tara matched the page Robin was in to look it up.

“They don’t usually come to this dimension, so summoning is the most likely option,” Tara got up. “I’ll contact the PD about having a lead. Andrew, can you help Robin find more about this Demon?”

Andrew nodded and sat down on the chair Tara had just left, Faith followed Tara instead of sitting down again, she had just been so bored on the couch. “Can I go with you? Sounds better than just staying here doing nothing,” She asked, really wanting to move.

Tara agreed and the two left, Faith was surprised to see a motorcycle outside, especially when the witch threw a helmet at her. “That doesn’t really seem your style,” Faith remarked amused while putting the helmet.

Tara shrugged “Before humans were able to see me again I went through them but they still could feel ‘something’ so I couldn’t be on the bus to Sunnydale High, I asked Spike to borrow his motorcycle and after that, I ended up being left with it.”

After a short ride they got to the YMPD headquarters, where Tara asked to talk with Detective Linton, whom Faith assumed was the official responsible for the case they were working on. He appeared soon, a tall blond guy that Faith was sure she could have slept with if she wasn’t with Robin.

“Detective Linton, I came here earlier but you weren’t here yet, I’m Tara Maclay, the Slayer Organization member sent to work with the PD, this is Faith Lehane, who’s working with me,” Tara introduced herself and the two shook hands before going direct into business.

“You’ve got something for me, Maclay?” Detective Linton asked, quite desperate for a lead. He truly was out of his depth with this one.

“Y-Yes, there’s a Demon whose powers match what happened to Shannon Heath, we’re working on finding out more about it, but because of what we already know, it’s possible there is still a human killer involved, so the not-supernatural part still needs to be investigated,” Tara explained.

During that moment a guy came running calling for Linton, holding a paper in his hand, Faith could see the Detective trying his hardest not to roll his eyes, but also failing. “What could you possibly want right now, Blue?” Linton asked annoyed.

“Well, I… looked into the Heath case. I know I’m not supposed to, but I’m due to the Detective test soon and I know I’ll pass because I’m really good and with all the violence going on right now we need more Detectives. But, anyway, I decided to look into unresolved cases because I do that sometimes and I thought I’d seen something similar at some point and apparently I was right and there was one seven years ago – Some guy named Josh Carter – with a mark that absolutely matches this one, so I thought it could be the same killer or-or not since there’s been a lot of supernatural stuff going on recently but still there could be a connection so I thought to let you know,” Blue explained, really, really fast. Everyone stopped to stare at him, Faith didn’t know it was possible to say that much that fast and she knew Willow Rosenberg. After a moment, Tara asked for the report he had on his hand and he gave her, smiling at her despite looking embarrassed.

“That really does fit, though it was certainly a messier job in this. Probably using more than one Demon, which is… unnecessary,” Tara was really good at noticing this stuff, it was surprising Faith at the same time it wasn’t, from what she heard Tara had been the one to figure the body swap, after all.

“Even if it’s not the same person responsible for both, knowing the Demon responsible means we could look into this case with a different approach later,” Linton said, trying to hide the fact he thought Blue had done a good job. “I’ll keep you informed. Do you have the contact number yet?”

Tara and Linton exchanged numbers and Tara and Faith left just as Blue started rambling again, Faith smirked when Linton complained. Blue sure was an amusing guy. Before they could get into the motorcycle, Tara’s cellphone rang.

“Hey, Andrew, did you find anything?” There was a pause and Faith could hear a bit of Andrew’s voice, but not enough to make out what he was saying. “Right, Faith and I will look into it, good job,” Tara hung up before turning to Faith. “It seems this Demon can only be summoned when close to the sea and there isn’t a lot of coast here, so it should be easy enough to find the place.”

When they got to the coast, Tara used a spell, Faith was pretty sure that was in Latin but it could really be anything. A light started blinking at the distance and when the two reached the spot, Tara examined it with magic and there seemed to be a lot of… magic… residues in it. For a second Faith got the impression they were being watched. She looked around but after finding nothing, decided it had been a mistake.

There was not one hint on who could have done it, though, so the only thing they could do at the moment was go back ‘home’ and wait to see if Linton found more information on why someone would want to murder their victim.

The way Faith saw it, the day could have been way more eventful, actual police work was not anywhere near as fun as slaying. She invited Tara to go with her and unwind a bit after that day, but Tara didn’t really like the idea. Faith and Robin then went alone. Slaying was fun, but slaying with someone to kiss during breaks was an even better idea, as she had come to learn recently.

The town had a number of cemeteries, even if not as much as Sunnydale, and the couple soon found one to look for fiends in. It was going slow - a Vampire and a Demon trying to dig up a grave, but otherwise nothing.

Faith then got somewhat distracted with Robin's mouth, only realizing a Vampire was there with barely enough time to put herself and Robin down to avoid his attack. Just as she prepared to get up and fight, someone else took over.

Faith's first thought was that the woman was a Slayer but just as the Vampire that attacked them was staked, Faith saw the winner's Game Face. She turned her face back to normal - probably hoping the two on the ground hadn't seen it.

"You're a Vampire! Most of those don't fight against their own," Faith said as she felt Robin harden a bit at her side, still not over his hatred of Vampires caused by Spike killing his mother.

"I'm a complicated Vampire. Name's Satsu, by the way, be seeing you around," The woman said smiling before taking off running. What was it about Vampires who fought against their own and being really hot?

Robin and Faith got up, still staring after the Vampire, before deciding it was enough for the night and going back home. Between being hungry and horny Faith doubted she'd sleep anytime soon, though.

 

Tara liked to think she didn't get irritated easily, but after a lot of spells not having a single result, it was becoming clearer and clearer the person they were searching for knew their way around this stuff. It had been two weeks without any new leads. She'd hoped their first case would go a bit better than that.

With the Heath case about to be considered cold because of all the other crimes going on that also needed solving, Tara was really starting to think the only way to find the one responsible was an actual miracle.

Andrew and Robin were all trying to research more and Faith hit the streets every night. They had already found some of the Demon spots in town, but no one seemed to know about any witches or warlocks with this level of power around.

It was during what felt like the millionth spell that Tara finally got a result. There was a clear magical signature on the spot on the beach - the ocean had probably erased any protective spells, since it has a strong magical power due to aquatic Demons, but the signature can't be destroyed as easily.

The magical signature wasn't familiar, but was certainly powerful and Tara knew she'd recognize it if she met its creator. It wasn't a lot, but it was something and that was more than there had been for quite a while.

Happy with the results of the day, Tara decided to finally take up Faith's offer to go slaying with her, the time Faith usually left was pretty close. The Slayer accepted the help and the two chose a cemetery to go to.

“I came here a couple times, but I usually avoid it because it’s the slowest in town, there’s a Vampire fighting against evil creatures here for some reason,” Faith explained, This Vampire – Satsu – pretty much told me the second time we saw each other here that I didn’t have to worry about this cemetery because she was always around. But I figured you had a tiring day, what with the information you found, so something slower could be good.”

Tara thanked her, the two had been getting along quite well. Tara hadn’t really been expecting that, but so far there weren’t any problems. Faith was interesting and, now that she was going down the redemption path, also really easy to be around. Being with the rest of this group in general was going well, and a lot different than the Scoobies. For one, Tara felt a lot more useful, though she didn’t like having to admit she had never really felt welcome by most of them, even if she did get closer to Buffy after the First resurrected her (or so it had said, Tara still wasn’t sure what happened).

After staking a Vampire while talking about meaningless stuff, a group of three Demons came into their direction, Tara got up and prepared to use magic and Faith smirked, probably thinking that things were finally heating up.

“You two would like some help with those?” A voice spoke from behind them.

“Feel free, Satsu, but believe me, it wouldn’t be necessary,” Faith answered, her cocky smirk still present in her face, though Tara could see it was also a real smile.

Tara let the two have at the Demons – considering the amount of magic she had used recently not casting any spells was fine with her – and observed Satsu. She was obviously the Vampire Faith had mentioned earlier, but there was something… Tara looked at her aura, surprising herself by seeing that, apparently, the Vampire had a soul. That was apparently more common than one would think.

It was over really fast, both fighters were really good, and as Satsu prepared to leave saying she wouldn’t be necessary that night since the duo was already there, Tara stopped her. “O-or you could help. I’m a bit tired, wouldn’t mind not having to cast spells and I don’t really… fight.”

Satsu seemed surprised at the offer, but after debating with herself for a second, she nodded and joined them, seemingly happy at the company, she probably didn’t usually talk to people. Tara and Faith went back to talking and Satsu awkwardly tried to be part of it.

The night was calm after that, there were a couple Demons but Faith wasn’t wrong when she said that cemetery was usually calm because of Satsu’s presence there. Tara was curious about the Vampire, who agreed to help them from time to time, apparently feeling lonely.

During the next day, Tara spoke to Linton, there was a new lead on the case – one of Heath’s coworkers who had been out of town was finally back and Heath had said something about one of the students acting weird around her just a few days before she died. Unfortunately, the coworker couldn’t remember if Heath had said the name of the student, but there was a possibility the case was tied to the University, which was more than they had before.

Tara and Linton went with Robin to the University, he had worked with students before, even if it had been high school ones, and would probably be a better help than either Andrew or Faith. Heath taught classes related to Engineering and was quite popular, her murder had been quite a shock and everyone that had classes with her was happy trying to help, though no one knew of any problems. The most they got was that she liked looking old murder cases, it was just a hobby, but it was possible she had found too much about one of them. They would look into it later.

After a while, Linton informed them he was going to see the murder case possibility but was calling it a day, Tara and Robin went around a bit more, before finally getting tired and leaving. Just as they left, a student called them, having heard of what they were searching for and thinking she could have useful information.

“No one really knew that, but I stayed behind one day and Professor Heath was having a fling with Professor Glen. I don’t have classes with him, but he has a bit of a reputation for being… well, complicated,” Jane Lynwood revealed and Tara and Robin looked at each other, how could no one else know about that? They thanked her for the information and called Linton.

“I actually spoke with the guy weeks ago! He didn’t say a word about that, so I guess I’ll make another visit tomorrow,” Linton said, sounding irritated. “Good work you two, guess this deal with the Slayer Organization is actually being useful.”

Tara called Buffy next, after a while without anything new, she guessed the Slayer would like to know this was going somewhere. As they talked, Tara noticed Jane, who was still around trying to see with Robin if she knew more, looked really interested when she heard Buffy’s name. When she hang up, Tara approached the two, trying to hide she had noticed Lynwood’s interest.

“It also helps that I’m a Slayer, though, great hearing and all that,” Jane didn’t hide that and Tara wondered if she had noticed Tara looking at her suspiciously or if she would have said that anyway. “I actually considered joining the Organization, it’s a pretty big thing now and people talk about it a lot, but my studies are more important. Dad agreed with me on that, though he kinda wants me to get training for my new powers.”

Before she could help herself, Tara said that they could probably help, what with Faith being a Slayer and Andrew having a bit of a Watcher training, even if incomplete (he was originally supposed to take over a Slayer Squad, but Buffy had decided the group in Yretmond needed someone with a lot of Demon knowledge). Robin looked at her and Tara shrugged, there was just – something – about Jane. Tara didn’t know what, but if the woman just wanted to learn more about being a Slayer, great, if she had more in mind than that, well, it would be easier to keep her around.

“I’ll keep that in mind, thanks,” Jane smiled and took the number of the group. “Glad I could help.”

“I thank you for your help,” Tara said simply, extending her hand for Jane to shake.

The moment their hands touched, Tara felt traces of the magic signature she had felt at the beach. Not enough for Lynwood to be responsible, but she had to know the culprit, even if they were just one of her teachers. Another reason they should keep a closer look on her.

Jane left right after and Tara stopped for a second before leaving, Robin following her still a bit confused, but appearing to be okay with going with Tara on this.

Linton called the next morning, Glen had been extremely vague during their conversation and there was evidence enough against him for a warrant to his house and the Detective needed help since he didn’t know how to identify someone who did magic.

Faith and Tara got there to find Linton and a couple cops about to get inside and they did, only to find a Demon there. Faith went to beat the Demon, but it got to Linton first, throwing him against a wall. Glen was inside the house, dead, clearly killed by the Demon. After a quick fight, Faith managed to kill the Demon as Tara went to check on Linton, finding him dead, a wound on his head that was probably responsible for it.

Tara and Faith looked at each other for a moment and Tara left without a word. She sat down after getting back to the house, Faith soon appearing and sitting down beside her.

“It wasn’t your fault, you know, I mean… maybe I could have killed that Demon earlier, if anything what happened to Linton is on me,” Faith clearly also felt guilty for what happened, but if it was anyone’s fault…

“No, it’s not. I’m the leader here, I should be prepared to deal with this stuff, but I’m not. Buffy shouldn’t have put me here, we both know the only reason she did it was because she wanted someone she trusted,” Tara said back, realizing afterwards that even though they both knew that, it probably hurt Faith to hear it aloud. “I-I’m sorry.” “Nah, I already knew that. And anyway, B wouldn’t have put you here if she didn’t think you could do a good job, even if part of her decision was that she wanted to keep an eye on me. Putting me here was probably wrong, though, if she doesn’t trust me.”

“I think she wants to trust you, Yretmond is a really important thing and she wouldn’t have put you here if the thought you couldn’t handle it. Maybe she just needs to know more about what you want before making you the real leader,” Tara had been sure of that ever since Buffy first told her the news, there was no way this job would be permanent. “I don’t know, I think you’ve been doing a pretty good job here, I’m not exactly cut out to be a leader either and at least you seem to know your stuff. We work together, things will probably get better. At least we solved the case, Glen probably tried to summon a Demon as soon as he realized we’d go after him and in his rush wasn’t able to control it,” Faith reasoned, and something about what she said make Tara look at her weirdly.

Tara’s eyes widened and she got up, going to talk to Andrew in the next room. He looked surprised at what she was saying, but when Tara described the Demon they fought he managed to identify it.

“You mean this Glen could control a Seonnuls but not Vlah'uts? That doesn’t actually make any sense! Vlah’uts was one of the first Demons I was able to Summon and I’m not sure I could control a Seonnuls successfully!”

Tara nodded, that confirmed her suspicions. “I wondered that, it seems possible that when L-Linton interviewed Professor Glen again this morning, the person responsible for killing Heath saw this as a way to get away with the crime. I don’t think Glen did it.”

“That means the case isn’t over yet, even if what happened today means the PD thinks otherwise,” Robin, who had gone into the room at some point in the conversation, concluded. Since there were no leads left because Glen had died before he could actually be persuaded into talking about his affair with Heath and what she could have told him, there was a chance this case wouldn’t be solved any time soon.

Tara vowed to find out the truth as a way to make up to Linton for what happened and she could see Faith was thinking along the same lines. It wasn’t over yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Things had gone well through the past few months, while the Shannon Heath case was still unsolved, all the cases since were a lot easier and Andrew liked to think the group was doing a good job. After Linton’s death, they started working with the newly-promoted Detective Tancredo Blue, who was really skilled at his job. Satsu was around a lot too, being in their house was a way to get away from the sun and she was useful, so no one minded her help.

They were having a couple days without any cases to solve, though, which was great and Andrew liked the time to relax and watch things. He had actually managed to convince the group – which he wanted to call Justice League, but for some reason no one else was really into the name – to have a Doctor Who marathon with him and he was really excited about that.

‘The group’ at the moment basically meant himself, Tara, Faith, Robin, Satsu, Tancredo and, sometimes, Jane. Andrew wasn’t sure if Jane would show up for the marathon, she didn’t seem to like most of them a lot of the time and they didn’t talk much. Jane was very focused on her studies – she was actually in the same area as Warren, it made Andrew feel a bit awkward. Maybe she would show up, though, he was pretty sure she was dating Tara even if he didn’t actually ask and no one volunteered the information.

As he got down with the DVDs, Andrew realized Tancredo was already there, which was… strange, considering they were only starting an hour later. The Detective was dressed in his work clothes and Andrew realized there was probably a new case. It was disappointing, but he would get a rain check with everyone another day!

“Sorry Andrew, it seems there’s a dangerous artifact and we have to look into this, if there was any other way I would have really liked watching Doctor Who with you but I think we’ll have to leave it to another day,” Tancredo looked apologetic, but Andrew got interested when he heard of an artifact. Maybe it would be something interesting to work on. He would definitely request a rain check on that marathon, though.

When everyone else – bar Jane, who didn’t actually live there – was in the room with them, Tara, who had also been informed of the case, started explaining everything. “There’s an artifact that everyone was sure was only a legend, but word in the street is that a warlock found it’s somewhere in town and is trying to find it. This artifact – Bracelet of Ekkont – is supposed to change the world of whoever uses it to the person’s ‘Perfect World’, whatever that means, someone having this kind of power isn’t really a good idea. We have to find the Bracelet first and destroy it.”

The Bracelet really sounded dangerous, but also a Perfect World – who knows what one could get with this? It wasn’t a good idea, though. The best option really was destroying the thing. But how were they supposed to find it? Andrew hadn’t ever heard of it and his Watcher training had gone through quite a few mystical artifacts. Maybe everyone really thought this one wasn’t real.

Andrew went with Faith to the usual Demon hangouts – they were quite familiar with those now – while Tara, Satsu and Robin stayed behind for research on the Bracelet. Tancredo just shrugged, realized he couldn’t really help with this one and said if anyone needed him he would be at the YMPD headquarters.

No one there seemed to know anything, and since most of them were usually happy to help in return for money for a drink or two, they probably really didn’t know much. Andrew tried his best at being intimidating with the one they found who finally seemed to know something, but it didn’t really work until Faith did the intimidation. He would get it right at some point.

“OK, OK, I’ve heard of it, now put the sword away,” The Loose-Skinned Demon said “Look, I don’t know if the guy knows his stuff, but it seems one of the cemeteries in town has the dead body of someone who’s wearing that bracelet, and this warlock came here to get it.”

Faith let him go – Loose-Skinned Demons were usually peaceful, since they fed off embarrassment and needed beings around for that – and thanked him for the cooperation. Andrew and Faith decided to go back home to try and find more on the Bracelet and whoever had last seen it, that was the best way to figure out where the person was buried. When they got there, the rest of the group had been joined by Jane and the fact she had probably gone there to watch Doctor Who with them made Andrew feel happy.

According to Robin, there were reports over a hundred years ago of someone claiming they had something that was capable of doing what the Bracelet does, but they mysteriously died soon afterwards. From what it said, the person was actually buried there, so the warlock had been right about that.

Andrew offered to go search for the Bracelet and Tara and Jane were going with him, Faith apparently wanted to go to sleep, though Andrew suspected she just wanted to be around Robin for a bit. Satsu decided to cover the usual Slaying in another cemetery while everything went down.

When the trio got close to the cemetery, a shiny yellow light was visible and they started running there, before it was too late to stop the warlock. When they got there, the light was gone and there was a guy on the floor, upon further inspection, he wasn’t wearing the Bracelet, it seemed the magic had backlashed and killed him. It was probably luck, the only thing left was to find the Bracelet and destroy it.

The three searched the place for a while and Andrew found it after a bit, as he was about to warn the other two where the Bracelet was he wondered – did he have to? There wasn’t anything that wrong with the artifact unless it ended on wrong hands, and Andrew’s hands certainly weren’t wrong.

He hid the Bracelet and after some more time, Tara said they had looked enough and with the warlock dead, they could delay the search for a bit. Jane thanked her profusely for it – she really did seem tired – and the two left, not really realizing Andrew was behind them. He went home right afterwards, but couldn’t stop thinking about the Bracelet. He didn’t even know what his Perfect World would be like, he never really thought about it with more than ‘we are as Gods’. Thinking about it more, that World would probably have the rest of the Trio in it, he wouldn’t have killed Jonathan and Warren wouldn’t have betrayed them – the three would still be working together!

Andrew didn’t want to be a Super Villain anymore, though, it had been fun, but being with the Scooby Gang, being in Yretmond, it made him realize he liked being one of the good guys. Maybe in his Perfect World instead of an Evil Trio, they were Super Heroes? He quite liked that idea.

Andrew realized he was closer and closer to convincing himself to use the Bracelet, but as soon as he started thinking, he couldn’t stop. It was like this artifact was the One Ring and he was under its influence.

He gave up trying to sleep and got up to walk around the house, putting the Bracelet on his palm and wondering if he should use it or not. The moment he made the decision to do it, he saw Tara entering the room, he then tried to put the Bracelet on his right arm as fast as he could, but the moment he did it, she touched him. And then everything started spinning.

When things got back to normal and Andrew was able to see again, he was still in the same place. For a second he wondered if it hadn’t worked, but Tara wasn’t there, so at least something had happened. He looked around for a bit and his arm, where the Bracelet still was, hurt for a moment, but then the pain was gone. It was probably just a magic aftereffect.

Andrew tried to find someone, but as soon as he heard steps and looked at the direction of them, he froze. Jonathan was walking towards him and there was nothing in his face indicating he hated him, even though Andrew killed him. His best friend was alive again and wasn’t angry with him for killing him in the first place!

“Are you okay, Andrew? You look awful,” Jonathan seemed really worried. Jonathan was worried about him, how could he?

Andrew then realized that if this really was his Perfect World, then he had never killed Jonathan in the first place, his best friend had no reason to dislike him. Andrew smiled – he was pretty sure that was his widest smile in ages – and hugged Jonathan, much to his obvious confusion.

“I’m just happy you’re here,” Andrew said, being nothing but absolutely sincere “Where’s Warren?” Andrew swallowed thinking about him, Warren had done a lot of bad stuff, but maybe THIS Warren hadn’t.

“Looking for me?” Warren said from behind him, and Andrew turned. As his eyes met Warren’s, Andrew wasn’t sure if his heart stopped or if it was beating for the first time since Warren’s death.

The next thing that happened confused Andrew, though, because unless he had had an hallucination, Warren’s next action had been kissing him. Like, KISSING him. After the kiss was over, Warren pressed his forehead on Andrew’s, his face worried.

“Is there something wrong?” Warren asked and Andrew’s heart skipped a beat at the concern in his voice, Warren had never sounded like that before. “Whatever it is, you can tell me. You know I love you.”

Andrew tried his best to act normal, but he had no idea what his normal was in this world. He felt in an alternate universe, even as realized he was in one, which he created. Then why couldn’t he understand his own mind?

“I’ll let you be for now, talk to me later, okay?” Warren asked worriedly, he then pressed his hand on Andrew’s for a moment and kissed his forehead before leaving the room. Andrew looked after him for a second and realized that – he actually kinda wanted that, have Warren care about him so much. Have Warren… In love with him?

It didn’t make sense, though, everything Andrew ever watched was clear about the fact that when someone was in love with another person they wanted – sex and sexual contact in general that Andrew had never felt interested in. Including with Warren. How could he want someone to be in love with him so much that they were in his Perfect World, but not want the kind of stuff people in love were supposed to want?

Andrew never heard it could be different, but it also… made sense? If he was in love with Warren, it would explain why he felt the way he did around him, it wasn’t sexual, but it was definitely… something. He had agreed with Warren even about things he knew in his head were wrong, things that went over the super villain hype. It made sense the reason for it was that he was in love with Warren.

How had he never realized that before?

Jonathan was still in the room, though, and he still looked worried about Andrew, so Andrew decided to assure him there was nothing wrong.

“I don’t really believe that, Andrew, you’re my best friend and I know you really well. I understand if it’s something you don’t want to talk about right now, but if you change your mind, I’ll be here,” Jonathan said caringly and left the room.

Andrew sat down with a smile as soon as he was alone again. He was still a bit confused about the Warren thing, but it was so good to be with his best friends again. Maybe his other friends weren’t there, but if this was his Perfect World they were certainly fine too. Using that Bracelet had been a great idea, even if his arm still hurt a bit sometimes. That would probably pass soon.

Andrew stayed in the living room watching TV – Enterprise was on – for a while, still having things going through his mind. And then the front door opened quite violently. Andrew got up, afraid, and then realized it was just Tara.

“Hey, Tara! You are here, too?” Andrew asked – he did truly like her and if she was around, then there was an even bigger chance Warren hadn’t killed her and everything was truly alright. Andrew realized that if Warren didn’t kill Tara, they had probably never done anything to Katrina either.

“Not really. I was supposed to, but you decided it was a good idea to use the Bracelet of Ekkont, and here we are,” Tara was direct and Andrew found himself paling, he didn’t think anyone would remember, but she had been touching him when the world had changed, so it made some sense she would.

“It was a good idea! The world is great – Jonathan’s still alive, and I think I’m dating Warren!” Andrew smiled as he explained, he didn’t understand his deal with Warren completely yet, but he did like it, and the new world.

Tara just – looked – at him for a moment, it made him feel uncomfortable and he wanted to say something, but didn’t know what. She sighed and finally started speaking “Andrew, you being in this world… I thought you wanted redemption, to make up for what you did. The only thing you are getting here is pretending you never did any of that stuff. That’s not redemption.”

Andrew just stared at her, trying to find a way to explain himself “No! It’s still redemption; I’ll still help people, just without seeming to have a reason to. And I know this doesn’t sound great but- It’s for the best. It has to be!”

“So all you did to make people know they could trust you was for nothing? You’re still putting what you want over the needs of everyone else?” Tara argued back and Andrew could see a point in what she was saying.

“But- I did so much bad stuff, I killed a girl, Tara, Katrina is probably still alive here, so she’s better off too, doesn’t matter if it’s just because I wanted her to.”

“Is this really about Katrina? Is this really about everyone who suffered consequences for your actions? Or are you doing this for yourself?”

Andrew tried to answer, but he couldn’t find a way. It had to be just because it was better for everyone, or was he really doing this just because it was also the best for himself? And what if Jonathan and Warren being alive meant there were other people who weren’t and would have been otherwise?

He could feel himself starting to doubt whether this truly was the best course of action. He would probably never be able to know for sure if what he was doing was good, or if he was just fooling himself for thinking so. 

Andrew sighed, and before the voices coming from the Bracelet – since when were they there? – managed to convince him otherwise, he took it off. That created a vortex which probably made the world back to how it was before.

Tara took the Bracelet out of his hand and set it on fire, voices really did come off it as it burned. “What you saw, back there, none of that was real, Andrew. I kept researching the Bracelet after we got back because I thought that warlock dying was a bit suspicious, it’s fake. I-it invades your mind, sees what you want the most and then just uses it to suck your energy until you’re dead.”

None of it had been real? But it had FELT… Andrew realized what that meant, everything he had wanted – it really was too good to be true.

“I guess that makes sense, thanks for getting me out. I was really confused there and I liked a lot of what I saw… especially if it meant I didn’t have anything to atone for anymore.” “Anytime. I guess the world of redemption is hard, I’ll make sure to help you through it,” Tara told him and Andrew grinned in response, it was great to know for sure she was on his side.

“When I was there, I realized that one of these things I wanted was having Warren in love with me.” Andrew admitted. He had told Tara they were dating there, so it wasn’t really a surprise, but it was still the first time he said that aloud. “And I liked that. I didn’t think of it before, because I always thought love was something different. Is it possible to be in love with someone but not want to have sex with them? Not even think about it once?”

“Can’t say I’m an expert, but I think love can come in quite a few ways, Andrew. If you were in love with him, but not attracted to him, that’s absolutely possible. Love IS about more than just attraction, after all,” Hearing Tara say that made Andrew smile – the Warren thing was strange, but it probably explained quite a bit. And if it was actually possible to find love without any of the things he had never been interested in, so maybe he wasn’t as weird as everyone seemed to think.

“Thanks, Tara. You’re a good friend to have. Why didn’t you just tell me it wasn’t real, though? Even while I put the Bracelet off, I wasn’t sure I would be able to…”

“The Bracelet would warp your mind if I told you the main reason you couldn’t stay there, make you think I was lying to you, it became more powerful if one thought for even a second that it wasn’t real. I had to make you realize you didn’t need it on your own. I’m glad it worked,” Tara squeezed his shoulder and then went to her room.

That had been a really strange night, but it did help Andrew a lot. He finally went to sleep, happy with the knowledge that he both wasn’t alone – he had Tara, and the rest of the group, even if he didn’t have the Trio anymore – and that there was nothing wrong with him.

The redemption quest really was a complicated road, but he would be successful at it, no shortcuts involved.

 

Rowan observed everything through the cameras he had made Jane set up on those idiots’ house and the Yretmond Police Department. Things were going well and his plan would probably be complete soon. The only real problem was how long it was taking Jane to be able to get into the Slayer Organization Database and find everything Rowan needed to know about Buffy Summers and the Slayer Squads around the world.

He was still annoyed about having these irritating people doing things on his city – it was supposed to be a safe place from the Watchers’ Council until Jane was trained enough to help him get revenge against Travers and the rest. Of course, the Council blew up killing all of them, besides Giles and a few others that had left it before whatever happened – Jane still hadn’t found out why it happened either.

But even with the Watchers’ Council out of the way, he was still angry at this new ‘Slayer Organization’, it was very much the new Council, after all, with the difference that Slayers actually had… a say. On everything. If he had known something like that would happen, Rowan definitely wouldn’t have wanted the Council to be destroyed.

Jane was useful to have around despite being a Slayer, so he didn’t mind her, but he had been right when he warned the Council they needed to find a way to destroy the Slayer line before one of the Slayers made a move against them. And he was sure Buffy Summers had been the one to do it, probably with Faith Lehane’s help.

Rowan was a Seer, not a very powerful one, but he did see the future from time to time, he had Seen the Slayer line being changed, it was why he approached Jane in the first place, back when she was a young teenager. She had been so happy to be adopted after the… awful tragedy that happened to her real father, she didn’t even think twice before accepting to be trained as a Potential by him.

Yes, having Jane by his side was extremely useful, especially considering how awfully trusting of her the Yretmond branch of the Slayer Organization was, the witch most of all. None of them would see her betrayal coming and then would be too weak to stop him from making his first strike against the SO.

“You have any new information for me, my dear?” Rowan asked when Jane got home, she looked tired from the case she had helped the SO with, but it was all part of the plan. Shame she got tired so easily, though.

“Not really? They still don’t fully trust me, I think. Faith especially seems sure there’s something wrong with me. From what I’ve heard of her, that does make sense; she’s probably done worse than me, after all. But I have finally been left alone with one of the Database computers, not enough to figure out the codes so we can access it, I’m not a hacker, but it means they are more careless with me. I’ll get a result soon,” Jane reported confidently, much to Rowan’s annoyance.

Of course she didn’t have anything new, for the past month Jane was becoming really useless when it came to finding out information. If he didn’t know her better, he would suspect she wasn’t discovering anything on purpose. Jane wouldn’t do anything like that to him, however. She was too… well trained for that.

“I need results! And by that I mean more than you sleeping with one of them,” Rowan said back, he didn’t really mind Jane’s sexual affair with Maclay, it was a good way of finding excuses to be around the house so much, but Jane needed more than that.

He was surprised at seeing her almost become defensive for a second, but then the flash of anger on her eyes was gone and he assumed he was probably imagining it – there was no way Jane was actually interested on the witch. Not only had he only ever seen her interested in men otherwise, even if she was also into women, there were a lot of those way more attractive than Tara Maclay.

“That is a necessary and useful part of the plan,” Jane defended herself, though for Rowan’s relief not in a way that made her seem to be doing that for more than just the operation. “Tara suspected of me from the start, ever since we got together, she got over those suspicions. She really thinks I like her and I need it to stay like that.” Convinced, Rowan started looking at the cameras again, there hadn’t been anything that interesting going on lately, with maybe the exception of the Bracelet of Ekkont situation. Andrew Wells was another member of the group who could be useful for the plans, while the Bracelet did influence someone’s thoughts, it didn’t completely, so Andrew really could be swayed into doing things against the rest’s wishes with just a little bit of help.

“Also, they are still working on the Heath case – not actively, but they didn’t buy our set up. I only found out about this earlier this week,” Jane revealed and while Rowan didn’t understand why she hadn’t told him that as soon as she found out – he had been sure the Heath thing wasn’t a probably anymore since the PD had the case as closed – he was happy Jane was at least telling him.

“It makes sense they would realize that. Maybe I should have used a more powerful Demon back then… I just didn’t want a mess, most Demons can get… complicated. Do try to find out how much they know, if my name gets involved on that in any way I may have some trouble, and I’d rather no one link me with this, it’s enough you took my surname after I adopted you,” While Rowan would never tell her that, he always disliked that he had to actually adopt Jane, Rowan Lynwood was a name there was a chance Rupert Giles would recognize, and even just the surname would put his name on Giles’ mind. Good thing that from what he had seen the only direct contact the group had with the rest of the SO was through Buffy Summers.

“Of course, Father,” Jane agreed, he then made sure she didn’t have anything else to report and dismissed her, who went to her room.

Rowan Lynwood smirked, things were really going his way. And as soon as he had information on the rest of the Slayer Organization, he could finally get what he had wanted for years. The complete annihilation of all the Slayers in the world. It was actually possible now – with all the Potentials activated, he assumed if they all died there wouldn’t be anyone left to have the power passed to.

Bit of a shame Jane was included on that group; he did develop a bit of a liking for the girl.


	3. Chapter 3

Jane didn’t know if she was annoyed, happy or just utter and absolutely confused.

Maybe a mix between all of these three things.

The start of the plan had been easy – find a way into the Yretmond branch of the Slayer Organization, gain their trust in any way necessary, report everything to her adoptive father. Jane certainly hadn’t expected to find herself in such a mess over it, as much as she had dated a bit in the past, she had never developed actual feelings over someone before, partly because her adoptive father wouldn’t really like if she fell in love with anyone and she didn’t like lying to him. But she was seeing someone pretty exclusively recently, and of course feelings had to get in the way.

Having feeling for someone wouldn’t have been a bad thing, per se, if said person wasn’t Tara Maclay, who was technically her enemy. And having feelings for Tara also resulted on Jane starting to wonder if she was on the right side – Tara didn’t seem like the danger for the world Rowan seemed to believe the Slayer Organization to be, and neither was the rest of the group. She would even go as far as to say she liked most, if not all, of them.

There wasn’t much of a choice, though, after her father was killed by a Demon and she found herself without a family, Rowan had saved her. Jane owed him too much and she would keep doing what he told her to, even if it involved hurting someone she was starting to think she was in love with and _fighting_.

Jane never enjoyed fighting, maybe she should considering she had been a Potential and was now a Slayer, but she didn’t like it. She liked engineering and she even liked researching for the group well enough, but whenever the actual fighting was involved… Jane didn’t even know how she managed to keep up the pretense her original reason for being around the Yretmond branch was that she needed training.

According to Rowan, the end of the plan was close and Jane knew she could get the information Rowan wanted, she had been sure she could get into the Database for a while, but as soon as Jane did it, her part on the plan would be over. She didn’t like the idea all that much, for quite a few reasons.

The first thing she needed, though, was to make sure no one else would be in the room when she accessed the computer. This would be easier if she could wait until the group got an actual office, which was going to happen next month, but Rowan didn’t listen when she asked him to wait a little bit more.

Doing it wouldn’t be that hard, she supposed, Satsu was usually out most of the night fighting Demons – Jane didn’t understand that well what was the deal with that Vampire, but if this was working to her advantage, she didn’t have any complaints – while Faith and Robin just had better things to do after slaying. The only ones left were Tara and Andrew.

Andrew wasn’t a problem, while she didn’t mind him, he could be funny sometimes, there was no way he could stop her. He just had to calmly stay in his room sleeping or watching TV, which was what he usually did anyway.

Getting rid of Tara would be more complicated than that, they were usually together when Jane went to the house, even if they weren’t officially dating (or maybe they were, but neither had said so, which made things just a little bit easier on Jane), and Tara probably would realize there was something going on if Jane acted differently. Tara was strangely perceptive – that was actually one of the things Jane liked best about her.

Rowan agreed that Tara needed a more specific way to get rid of and had given Jane a… potion or something that was supposed to make Tara sleep for a while. Jane didn’t really want to use it, so she would leave this thing as last resort, only if Tara seemed to really suspect something.

And that was where she was right now – up in Tara’s room, trying to decide what the hell she needed to do. Tara was reading some magic book when Jane first got in, but she looked up and smiled.

It occurred to Jane, not for the first time, that Tara had a beautiful smile, but that had nothing to do with the matter at hand and she needed to stop getting distracted.

“Jane, hey!” Tara said, still smiling. But then she seemed to realize something, because her face mostly fell and she started looking worried. “I-Is there something wrong? Are you okay?” Why did Tara have to genuinely care about her?

“I’m… yeah. Just, finals are close and I’m a bit nervous and all that,” Jane wasn’t really the worst actress, but she was also really bad at the moment. “How was your day?”

But Tara didn’t seem distracted by the deflection, she got up and her face went from worried to suspicious. Jane hadn’t seen that expression on Tara’s face since the day they first met, it made her feel really uncomfortable this time around.

“Jane, is there something you’re not telling me?” Tara asked and Jane realized she had no idea how to lie. Because yes, there was a lot she wasn’t telling her and she still wouldn’t.

“Not anything important, no,” Jane answered nervously. “Why wouldn’t I tell you? It’s not like I have something to hide.” Tara had probably realized she was lying, Tara knew her too well, even if Jane had no idea how.

“I think we both know that’s not true, Jane,” Tara said eerily calm and Jane could feel herself fear more and more what was about to happen. “You’ve been hiding something ever since we first met, you really thought I had never realized? Figuring you out was the main reason I even allowed you here in the first place.” 

“I-“ Making a split decision Jane knew she could come to regret later, she took the syringe Rowan had given her and before Tara had time to react, injected the liquid on Tara’s arm. Tara’s hand moved to grab her and the two looked at each other for a second. The poison then started working and Tara fell unconscious (Jane hoped, at least).

Jane put Tara’s body back into her bed, whispered she was sorry and left the room, trying to stop herself from shaking but not really succeeding. She had to do this now, no other choice, because when Tara woke up, she would remember what happened and Jane would be in trouble. The thought of never seeing Tara smile again was sad, but Jane guessed she’d have to deal with it.

Jane went to the room the computers linked to the SO Database were and was relieved that there wasn’t anyone there, even if she didn’t really expect to find someone since there was no active case. As she started up the computer and it made its usual noises, Jane jumped – why did things always seem louder when there couldn’t be any noises?

Before looking at anything else, Jane found the file she knew they were keeping the information on the Heath case, which she was sure they were still working on. Rowan would probably like to also know if they really knew anything or were suspecting something wrong because of how conveniently the case had been close, especially if Tara had truly suspected her the entire time.

Jane read a few words of it and then jerked back at the words ‘Josh Carter’, closing the page as fast as she could. She had to finish the job soon, or her mind would truly process what she saw and Jane had no idea how to deal with that in the moment.

She logged into the Database – she had figured out Tara’s password a while ago, even if she didn’t really know what to make of it. As Jane saved the entire thing on a flash drive she brought with her, she heard a noise behind her and was surprised to see Andrew. What was he doing there?

“Jane? Do we have a case?” It was clear by his voice Andrew had just woken up, Jane knew he sometimes had nightmares and couldn’t sleep afterwards, he had mentioned that at some point, but really, talk about an awful timing.

Jane weighted her choices, Andrew would know she was up to no good as soon as Tara woke up, but if he warned the other people in the house before she left, the plan would probably be ruined. If she lied to him, he could believe it and go to sleep, or he could go confirm it with Tara, find what happened to her and warn everyone in the house. She needed at least a few hours before everything went down, so she couldn’t let that happen.

Jane stopped thinking, grabbed a pen – the first thing she could get her hand on – and threw it at him, the Slayer strength meaning it pierced him. Jane’s eyes widened as she watched Andrew hit the floor and then realized the data transfer was done.

Jane was worried Andrew was dead – she didn’t mean to kill anyone, all of this was supposed to be done without her needing to do anything like that – and before she could realize how much of a bad idea that was, she called the ambulance for him as she left the house.

Andrew would be okay – he had to – and so would Tara. Both of them would probably hate her by the time this was over, but she would not directly be responsible for either of them getting seriously hurt. Maybe Andrew wasn’t even that bad and she just thought so because of how nervous she was.

As soon as the call was over she took off, it was best if she wasn’t seen and the others only found out who attacked Andrew and Tara when either of them woke up. Jane stopped as she started to get away and looked back at the house, for a moment unsure if she had made the best choice.

When she started hearing the ambulance’s sirens, Jane decided it was better to just get this over with and go home, where she knew Rowan was waiting awake for her.

Jane first got into the house to find Rowan looking over a magic book, probably trying to find the last spells he would need for the plan. Finding she couldn’t trust herself enough to speak without her voice trembling, something Jane knew Rowan wouldn’t like, she just gave him the flash drive. And was rewarded with the widest smile she had ever seen on his face.

But that smile – it was dangerous. Jane felt like she was seeing a new side of Rowan, even if it was there the entire time. She had never allowed herself to see him as anything but a good guy before but she wondered now if he wasn’t the real villain in this. He saved her life just as the Demon that killed her father went for her next, after all.

Jane found herself being a better actress than earlier as she returned the smile, being sure Rowan saw nothing but pride at being successful on their plan in her face.

She didn’t know if Rowan was someone she could really trust, especially because of one of the things she had seen when she accessed the computer – her father had been killed by the same Demon that killed Professor Heath. And Jane knew Professor Heath had died because she somehow got too close to figuring something out that Rowan hadn’t wanted anyone to know – Rowan had never actually told her what that was. Jane always assumed it was just the fact she was a Slayer, but what if there was more to that, especially considering how interested Heath was in the criminality in their town?

If they had been killed by the same Demon species – had Rowan lied when he told her he was only in the house she shared with her father because he happened to hear a noise, was he really the one to stop her from going to a foster house or something like that? Or was he the only reason that would have been necessary in the first place? Had Josh Carter done something to him, or had he killed her father just to have a way to get to her, considering how fast he found out she was a Potential?

Rowan wouldn’t know she suspected anything, the plan was going down the next day and with Andrew and maybe Tara not being able to help, it would be even easier to defeat the poorly prepared Yretmond branch. And during that fight, she would try to make sure they got Rowan to admit his crimes, Rowan was certainly vain enough to do something like that.

And then she would know for sure if she was on the right side, or if Rowan had lied the entire time. If the latter, maybe she would have to make another exception on her rule of not hurting or killing people. Because someone who killed her father and proceeded to lie to her for seven years afterwards didn’t deserve to live, as much as she hated she was thinking like that.

Jane found herself hoping it was just one big coincidence and Rowan was honest and loved her. She didn’t know if she could deal with the other option.

 

When Robin first heard ambulance sirens in front of his house, he knew that there was something very wrong going on. Leaving his and Faith’s room with her to find Andrew bleeding out and Tara unconscious only made him fear even more what could be happening.

How had someone gone into their house and done that much damage without anyone realizing? It just didn’t make any sense. He called Detective Blue as soon as possible – it was clear he had been sleeping, but said he would alert the police of what happened and investigate.

Robin and Faith observed as both Andrew and Tara were taken in, it seemed that Tara was okay, but Andrew was apparently really bad. Following the ambulances to the hospital on his car, Robin fought to maintain himself under control – Tara had been very clear that should anything happen to her he was in charge.

He never had trouble controlling his emotions, the mess with Spike notwithstanding, but he knew very well he was blaming himself and there was nothing he could do until either of them woke up and said who had been responsible for what happened.

“Satsu doesn’t know, what should we do?” Faith asked him, her voice a bit caught, it was obvious she was also blaming herself for it, they had both been inside the house!

“She only gets home right before sunrise, we still have a couple hours until that. With any luck, Andrew will be stabilized then, but any way one of us goes back to tell her,” Robin answered, he knew they could go look for her, but it could be a while until they found Satsu, especially since she didn’t limit herself to just one cemetery anymore. It was best to stay there to find any information on who was responsible for the attack.

Faith nodded, trusting his judgment on the matter even though she clearly had wanted an excuse to get out. And the two sat together as they waited for more information. A doctor explained soon after that there was nothing wrong with Tara, per se, she just didn’t wake up, and he thought it was a drug. Andrew, however, was in danger, though apparently the doctor was hopeful he would make a full recovery.

That made Robin feel a bit better, he had thought the boy was annoying at first, but he had certainly grown on him over time. The thought of not hearing Andrew’s constant pop culture references was actually sad, Robin decided that if the boy survived he would actually convince everyone to let him call their group ‘Justice League’, there were certainly worst names.

Robin got a call from Blue, who told him he was investigating the crime scene and wouldn’t be around for a while, Robin told him the little they knew and Blue thanked him for the information before getting back to work.

As the time went by, Robin could see Faith was becoming restless and decided to try and appease her a bit. “You could go look for Satsu, you know, I guess there isn’t really a point for both of us staying here and she’d want to know. I’m not sure in which cemetery she is though.”

Faith looked at him with gratitude and got up, he knew she was worried about them and didn’t want to show it, so it was best if she was given time to be alone, maybe she’d even get to fight a bit before finding Satsu. He managed to smile a bit at the thought, Faith was certainly passionate but she also cared a lot, even if she didn’t like showing that, it was one of the things he loved the most about her.

The minutes passed as Robin sat alone, he had even got up for coffee, even if hospital coffee was always dreadful it was a distraction. After a while, he decided to go see Tara, she was probably still unconscious but he wanted to make sure she was still alive, it would help ease his mind a bit.

She looked a mix between angry and shocked, he wondered if this was the expression on her face right before she was attacked. Maybe the shock meant she knew the one behind it, or had just gotten caught off guard. Either way they would only know when she woke up. Robin ignored the part of him that said ‘if’.

After a while looking at Tara, Robin went back to the waiting room, there should be news about Andrew soon and someone had to be there to hear it. Just as he got back, Robin saw Faith with Satsu trailing right behind her.

“You heard anything?” Faith asked and Robin looked into her eyes as he shook his head, it was noticeable she had cried, even if not much. He didn’t make any mention of it though, Faith certainly wouldn’t want anyone to know that.

“What happened?” Satsu asked, her voice angry and holding more emotion than Robin had ever seen on her face – while she wasn’t cold, exactly, she wasn’t really forthcoming about anything.

“I don’t know,” Robin admitted, even if he hated that. “We were in our room, someone called an ambulance though, probably one of them. We need them to wake up if we want to know anything.”

Satsu nodded, her face troubled, but she soon sat down on the other side of Robin, who smiled weakly at her. They sat down for a bit more, a nurse then appeared looking for someone with ‘Tara Maclay’ and all three got up fast.

“She woke up, though she still seems confused. Maybe seeing a familiar face would help,” The nurse told them and Robin could see Faith smile.

Only one of them could get in at one time and it was decided Robin should go first, since he was technically the leader out of the three of them. As soon as he got into the room, Tara looked at him seriously and he prepared himself to whatever he was about to hear.

“Jane did it,” Tara didn’t look surprised, only disappointed. While Robin was aware Tara had suspected of Jane, he also wondered if she had developed feelings for her, if that was the case it only made the betrayal more painful. “W-Was I the only one to suffer any consequences?” She seemed to be pleading to hear ‘yes’ as the answer, Tara had been the main reason Jane was even allowed to be around, she probably hated the idea of anyone else getting hurt because of that.

Robin sighed. “No. Andrew got stabbed, I assume also by Jane.”

Tara’s eyes widened and her voice wavered, almost desperate. “I-Is he still alive?”

“He hasn’t died yet, but the last we heard of it, it’s bad.”

Tara looked away and Robin saw tears on her eyes, a moment passed without either saying a word before Tara was finished crying and looked back into his eyes. “I can’t use magic. I think the poison Jane used on me blocked that, meaning I can’t be of much help, but we still need to get her. She’s our responsibility.”

Robin agreed, but they still needed a bit more time until Tara could actually walk, even if she couldn’t use magic she knew Jane well, her presence would probably be important on the fight.

Robin left the room and Faith hugged him before going in to talk to Tara next. He looked after her, she had certainly been extremely affected by what happened to Andrew and Tara. Robin still didn’t know how exactly, but there was something there.

After an hour, Faith and Tara left the room together, much to Robin’s surprise. Faith grinned “We are taking Tara out of here. Satsu, since it’s daylight outside, can you stay here for news on Andrew?”

Satsu nodded and Robin just went with it as Faith and Tara left the building, both managing to act like they weren’t doing anything wrong. The two had a strange relationship, but it was useful for moments like that.

“You know where Jane lives, right?” Faith asked Tara, who confirmed.

Robin realized they probably should have a plan, but Faith was out for blood and wouldn’t hear it anyway, so it was best to just provide backup for her and hope for the best.

Luckily Jane’s house was close to the hospital and they didn’t even have to take Robin’s car to get there, though they had gone to the car first for weapons. Faith took a sword while Robin hid a dagger on himself, he had a feeling it could be useful. Tara didn’t take anything, her ability didn’t really include fighting and her having a weapon could just mean Jane having something else to use against them should she manage to steal it.

Faith didn’t wait before going into Jane’s house – Robin noticed it was big and it didn’t surprise him, Jane had said at some point her father was rich and the Lynwood name was famous around town, Rowan Lynwood was one of the biggest names around, though Robin wasn’t sure why.

At first there didn’t seem to be anyone there and Robin could see Faith was irritated by that, but Tara screamed at Faith to look behind her, making possible to Faith to avoid an attack from Jane right before the sword connected with her body.

“You got here earlier than planned. Dad’s probably not going to like that very much, we’ve been working on this plan for a while,” Jane said as she and Faith started a swordfight. Jane suddenly seemed more skilled with a sword than he’d ever seen her, as if she had been holding back the entire time they knew her. Robin wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

“Come on, Jane, there is no need for that, I made sure of it,” Someone said from behind them and Robin looked at the source of the voice, he assumed the man he was looking at was Rowan Lynwood. “They getting here a bit earlier than planned doesn’t change anything.”

Before Robin could be sure of what was going on, an energy dome was raised around him and he found himself stuck inside of it alongside Faith and Tara.

“Not everyone is here, can’t say I’m surprised the Vampire isn’t, but how about the Demon summoning boy and that Detective?” Rowan was aware of all of them, Robin knew he would because he was probably receiving information from Jane, but it still irritated him a bit that Rowan would talk about Andrew when he was the one behind Andrew’s life being in danger, even if indirectly.

“Andrew’s dead,” Tara answered, Robin looked at her, if he hadn’t known she was lying he would have no idea. Who would’ve thought? “Not sure about Tancredo, though.”

Robin wondered why Tara had lied, but then heard a sword fall on the floor, he looked at Jane, who seemed to be in absolute panic at the thought of killing someone. He smirked internally, Tara had a plan and that meant they still had a chance.

“Shame Mr. Wells died, I heard he’s been against the Buffy Summers and the rest of you in the past, maybe I could have made him see the light again,” Robin observed Jane look sharply at Rowan when he said that, so Tara was trying to get the two to disagree on something. Question was if this was going to work. “Now, for why I only captured you instead of killing – the Slayer Organization Database won’t open on my computer even though I have the entire thing. What’s the password for it?”

Robin realized he had no idea – Tara was probably the only one who did. Rowan seemed to know that too, because he was looking directly at her. Jane followed Rowan’s eyes and her already panicked expression became even more scared.

“Tara, just tell him, Rowan is a good guy, but he can do anything to get what he wants – if you say it already, I can convince him to let you go,” Jane pleaded, but Robin knew Tara well enough to know she’d rather die than give out information that could put Buffy and the others in danger.

“Let me go. How about Faith and Robin, would you do the same for them?” Tara already knew the answer to that, even if Jane managed to convince Rowan not to kill Tara, there was no way all three would leave the room.

“They’re not as important as you! Tara, just make the right choice here, if you tell him, we can – we can be together!” Even Tara was visibly surprised at that. It seemed not all of Tara and Jane’s relationship had been a lie, interesting.

“Do you actually think we’d still be together anyway? You drugged me, Jane, and for what?” Tara shot back, Robin had never seen Tara so angry.

“I did what I had to do – Dad really needed the information and I knew you would try to stop me, but that didn’t mean anything. I love you!” Rowan looked at Jane with anger at that, Robin guessed he hadn’t known Jane had feelings for Tara at all, much less that they went that far.

Tara ignored the love declaration so well it was almost like she hadn’t heard it “You also killed Andrew, how exactly would you expect me to forgive that, even if you did it for your father? I suspect he’s responsible for the deaths of Shannon Heath and Josh Carter as well?”

Rowan was the one to answer that, still angry over what Jane said. “Of course I’m responsible for their deaths, they were on my way, I needed them out for my ultimate plan to completely get the world rid of Slayers and the Slayer line,” As soon as he finished talking his eyes widened and Robin wondered if his anger against the Slayers mean he would go as far as to kill his own daughter? If that was the case, she knew that now.

Jane turned to Rowan, taking her eyes off Tara for the first time in a while. “What do you mean you killed- You said my father’s death was just a random Demon attack!” Robin wasn’t sure what she meant, but Rowan did.

“You were twelve, I told you what you needed to hear and I adopted you right afterwards, you owe me thanks, not anger of the death of a man who couldn’t give you even half of what I can,” Rowan reasoned, but Jane had stopped listened, she was on the verge of attacking him.

Realizing what was about to happen, Robin put his hand where his dagger was and when Jane attacked Rowan, Rowan had to put the magic dome out to defend himself against his adopted daughter. Jane flew into a wall and before Rowan knew it, Robin threw the dagger.

Rowan collapsed on the floor and Jane got up to look at him while Robin, Tara and Faith just stood there, unsure of what to do with her now that Lynwood wasn’t a problem anymore.

“He’s dead,” Jane announced after checking, no hint of emotion in her voice, after she turned around, her eyes were extremely cold. “What happens now?”

“For starters, give me back what you stole,” Tara said quietly and Jane nodded, retrieving a flash drive and handing it to her. “I don’t think you’re going to be a problem without Rowan around, especially since he apparently lied to you for all these years. Andrew isn’t actually dead – I just needed the leverage. So unless Andrew wants you in prison for almost killing him, and that’s a question only he can answer, I’ll let you go.”

Jane looked surprised at that and Faith was about to protest the decision when Robin shook his head – that had more to do with Tara than with either of them, they had to let her decide. He trusted she was making this decision out of more than any feelings she could have for Jane.

“Faith, Robin, go back to the hospital to see how Andrew is, I’ll follow you soon.”

Robin and Faith agreed, leaving Tara and Jane alone in the room. Robin realized that if Tara still couldn’t use magic she’d be in problems if anything went wrong, but he was going to listen to her about Jane not being trouble anymore.

When they got to the hospital, Satsu told them Andrew was stabilized and was expected to wake up any time soon. Robin and Faith explained what happened and Robin smiled, glad this entire mess was finally over. There would probably be another hard case soon, but it was good to sit back and relax for a second after so long working on Shannon Heath’s death.

“Robin, can you walk with me for a bit?” Faith asked, her face serious, and Robin nodded, following her after she got up.

“What is it?” Robin asked after a while, she seemed to be battling whether or not she was going to talk.

“This whole thing made me see that, maybe, we shouldn’t be together anymore. I mean, you helped me a lot, and I’m glad for that and I really do love you but,” Faith sighed. “You distract me, I knew that but it wasn’t a problem until last night. And as soon as I started thinking about it, I also started thinking about… other things. I guess the distraction isn’t really hard to deal with, but I was a Slayer, then I went evil, then I went to prison and then I met you almost right after getting out. I need to know who I am, and I don’t think I can if we’re together, if I always have you to look forward to even if I mess up on my redemption. You know?”

Robin smiled at Faith and hugged her, looking her directly in the eyes after they finished the hug. “I get it. I love you, too, and I think you know what’s best for you. I’ll still be around, though, we’ll stay friends, work together, who knows what could happen in the future?”

Faith grinned and hugged Robin again, the two then walked back to the waiting room to find Tancredo there. “Tara explained the whole thing to me. The Department is retrieving Mr. Lynwood’s body as we speak, hard to believe someone like him could do that much. Andrew will probably like to know the guy who stabbed him is dead – he woke up, by the way, Tara’s with him at the moment. She said she wanted to explain the whole thing to him, and I get it even though-

“Great, Tancredo!” Faith cut him off, everyone knew Tancredo had a bit of a tendency to not stop talking after he started. “So Tara told you how Rowan was working alone, huh?”

Tancredo nodded, a bit embarrassed after rambling once again and Robin and Faith exchanged looks. It would be truly for the best if no one knew of Jane’s involvement, even if they did trust Tancredo. For the rest of the town, Jane was fooled by her cruel adoptive father, just like everyone else.

After this year, Robin wanted nothing more than a peaceful summer.


	4. Chapter 4

Arc 2 chapter 1

Willow hadn’t really wanted to go back to the Slayerette lifestyle, as much as she had liked studying magic with Alluwyn, that didn’t mean she still wanted to fight against evil – Willow had the impression she had lost more than she’d won during the past few years and Buffy didn’t really need her help anymore, with so many Slayers and Witches working under her.

And yet as soon as Buffy had asked her to go back, Willow found herself agreeing – a part of her really liked the feeling that came with fighting the good fight and she didn’t feel ready to give up on that. Kennedy had also been very bored at being a Slayer and doing nothing with that power and Willow knew it was unfair to keep asking Kennedy to do that.

It was very confusing.

So, just a couple months after going back to working with the Scoobies and finally joining the Slayer Organization for real – she had done the SO Database and helped make the charges against Faith disappear, but she hadn’t really worked there before – Willow had just learnt she was going to see Tara for the first time in over an year.

That was a strange thought, Willow had spent so long trying to deal with the fact Tara was dead only to find out right before the final battle against The First that Tara had sort of been back to life for most of that time and just couldn’t be seen by anyone that wasn’t a Demon, Slayer, Vampire or a previous ball of energy.

They had only spent a lot of time in the same room about twice after the Slayer activation spell resulted on Tara becoming visible to everyone. Willow still wasn’t sure how to handle seeing the love of her life again after so long and she had hid from Kennedy, who was going to Yretmond with her, that Tara would be there. Something told her this would not go over very well when Kennedy found out.

After a few hours driving, Willow finally found herself looking at the official branch of the Slayer Organization in Yretmont. The building was brand new – there hadn’t been time to build it before they first started working there, according to Giles.

Willow could feel Tara through magic, it was something she hadn’t done in ages and she had forgotten how good that felt. She calmed herself before leaving the car and going into the building, Kennedy trailing right behind her. There were five chairs there, though only one of them had someone in it, a woman Willow had never seen before – she went through the people Buffy said worked on the group and realized that must be Satsu.

“Oh, you’re the people called for help with the magical imbalance that happened in town earlier this week, right?” She got up, going right to them before offering her hand to Willow. “I’m Satsu, I’ve been working here almost right after the Justice League was formed.”

Justice League? Willow was going to assume Andrew had something to do with that and just ignore it. Willow shook Satsu’s hand before introducing herself. She noted Satsu seemed to look her a bit more suspiciously after realizing who she was but just shrugged at that too – she was well aware Faith wasn’t exactly her biggest fan.

“Where’s everyone else?”

“They should be here soon, actually, you were only expected here a bit later, so they are probably coming into work the same time as every day, which should be in about an hour,” Satsu explained, though she didn’t mention why SHE was already there.

There was something wrong with this woman, though Willow couldn’t figure out what – she decided she would, because of the possibility she could be a danger to the… Justice League. It could not be any of her business, of course, but it was best to be safe than sorry.

Willow and Kennedy sat down for a bit before they heard Andrew’s voice as he talked about what happened in the last episode of something. He opened the door and with him were Tara, Faith and Robin.

Willow and Tara’s eyes locked for a moment before both of them trying to look busy looking at any place but each other and Willow saw Kennedy observe the entire thing. She probably should have told Kennedy about that beforehand.

“Willow,” Faith said as a greeting, probably trying to diffuse some of the tension in the room. “How are you?”

“I’m great,” Willow squeaked, knowing she sounded anything but. It was just a very complicated situation. “You?”

“Five by five,” Faith answered simply and Willow found herself once more annoyed at that phrase.

“Willow, I heard you were the one Buffy was sending, it´s good to see you,” Tara said a bit awkwardly and they shared a very strange small talk before Tara decided to talk about the reason they were there in the first place. “There is something going on in town. We can figure out what it is later but whatever happened opened a magical rift that keeps making strange things happen and the only spell I found to close that needed two people. Andrew wasn’t strong enough to do it – his magic abilities lie with Demon Summoning, not spells – so I asked Buffy for help.”

“Yeah, she told me most of it, though I didn’t know that you thought the magical rift itself wasn’t the only problem. Is that common here?” Willow asked as she prepared herself to use magic – it was easier after the training with Aluwyn but she still felt like she shouldn’t do spells sometimes.

“You haven’t seen a thing, Red,” Faith said amused from the back of the room, Willow wondered if things really were that complicated in Yretmond. Maybe they should get more help? “But we can handle it after you’re done with the spell – not sure why Buffy sent a Slayer with you, or is she only here cause she’s your girlfriend?” Faith taunted.

So much for staying civil.

Willow didn’t answer the question, Faith always liked trying to push her buttons, and Kennedy seemed to get annoyed with the whole thing. “Right, so let’s get this over with already, where is the magical rift?”

Faith smirked and said they would go there next and the two of them followed her and Tara out, there wasn’t need for the entire group. Faith had taken Robin’s car key and was driving them, Tara riding shot gun – the two kept exchanging looks and as much as Willow hated to admit it, that irritated her. What were they communicating through these looks?

“The spell is actually pretty simple,” Tara explained when they got to the place where the magic rift was happening, there was a lot of magical energy coming from the place, Willow could understand how this was being a problem. “But one person has to draw energy to the other, who then uses it to close the rift, using your own magic causes the rift to fight back, but with two different ones, it gets confused, sort of.”

Willow knew this was true for both opening and closing magical rifts and dimensions a lot of the time, unless there were specific methods to do a particular one, two people always worked better than one – and not only for this kind of spell either. Willow realized for the first time that this would be her first time doing a spell with Tara in years, it was quite enough to make her nervous.

The two held hands and their magic connected in a really natural way and not that long after, Willow closed the rift and the place went back to normal. Willow and Tara smiled at each other and then stopped touching. That had certainly been a strange experience, even if not a bad one.

“So it’s done now, huh?” Kennedy asked, she was really not happy with the idea of Tara being around, or at least Willow assumed that was the case. It could be just because she hadn’t told her about Tara being there, in which case things were a little more complicated.

“I guess so. You two are free to go!” Faith told them, she seemed more amused by what happened than anything, at least someone was having fun. “Though you could stay for a bit – I mean, you just got here, after all, let’s catch up and stuff!”

Willow was sure this was not a good idea, but agreed. What was the worst that could happen? They went back to the Headquarters to find Andrew, Robin and Satsu working on something, did they have another case? Willow guessed she and Kennedy could try to help before leaving too, they were already there, after all.

“Tancredo called, the strange cases have stopped, but before it happened someone made use of one of the irregularities to ‘have fun’ and is now having trouble going back to normal,” Robin told Tara, who nodded and went to call Tancredo about it, Willow wondered if she would go there herself or if this guy could handle whatever was going on.

“Well, Tara’s working, but I guess we can catch up anyway, why were you considered AWOL for so long last year, Red?” Faith asked interested and Willow tried to find something to say that didn’t include ‘I ran for a while, then started studying under and sleeping with a Demon called Aluwyn’. She was definitely not saying that last part anyway.

“We traveled for a while, then Willow got an invitation from this Demon from another dimension to study magic, Aluwyn or something, and disappeared for a few months. We started working on the Slayer Organization right after she got back,” Kennedy said instead and Willow decided she could work with that.

“Aluwyn? I’ve heard of her! She’s supposed to be really strong and she only reaches out to teach the best, you’re really amazing, Willow!” Andrew said lively and Willow accepted the compliment, what he had said was true. “Also isn’t she supposed to be one of the hottest Demons around?” Willow was less sure why he thought THAT would be a good follow up, even if it was also true.

“Er- Yes, Aluwyn has a bit of a reputation for that,” Willow said back, trying not to show anything strange about that, it WAS true and didn’t really have a lot to do with the fact she had a thing with Aluwyn, or that she had actually developed feelings for her.

“Not only for that either, when Warren first found out about her he joked he should study with her, considering her reputation for sleeping with her students,” Andrew said amused and Willow found herself both angry at Warren’s name in particular and angry at pretty much everything Andrew had said.

“Not always, though,” Kennedy said lightly with certainty and Willow fought a wince, she had often had trouble with monogamy, and that had almost killed Cordelia – maybe she should tell Kennedy the truth, even if she had been planning on ignoring the whole thing. Her mind hadn’t really been letting her forget what happened anyway, she missed Aluwyn sometimes.

“Yeah. But I have to say, really tempting sometimes,” Willow said, she had decided she would tell Kennedy, but in front of a room full of people is really not the right moment.

Tara finished the call and said that she had talked the guy through the process and everything was under control. So there truly wouldn’t be a need to help with anything before they went back, then. Willow decided she should talk to Kennedy before leaving, she had already waited too much.

“Kennedy, wait,” Willow called when Kennedy was about to get into their car. “I kinda need to tell you something, and I should have said it before, but I didn’t really want to. But I think I have to.”

“What is it?” Kennedy asked, looking less relaxed, probably knowing that what Willow was about to say wouldn’t be pleasant.

“What Andrew said – about Aluwyn having a reputation for sleeping with her students – I don’t know if it’s true, but I did. Sleep with Aluwyn,” Willow admitted and saw Kennedy look hurt. “It’s not only that, though, I think- I think I may have fallen in love with her.”

“Willow…” Kennedy stopped for a second, both angry and hurt. “I love you,” She said simply and Willow looked away.

“I don’t. I’m sorry,” Kennedy just stared at Willow for a moment after hearing that, seemingly not wanting to believe what she just heard. “I thought I could ignore that, that my feelings for Aluwyn would go away and I’d fall in love with you instead, but it’s not happening and I think you deserve to know that.”

“Tell Buffy I’ll be staying here for a while,” Kennedy said with finality, even as Willow realized she was close to crying. “I don’t want to be around you and I think I wouldn’t really have a choice if I went back right now, especially since there’s only one car.”

Willow nodded, in the end it was Kennedy’s choice and she guessed that while she did like Kennedy a lot, this would be for the best, the only thing Willow had been doing was lying to Kennedy and to herself. And that just wouldn’t be a good thing for either in the long run.

“Take care, Kennedy,” Willow spoke simply. “I never meant to hurt you,”

“It doesn’t really matter what you meant to do. You did hurt me,” Kennedy said somewhat accusingly.

Willow knew she deserved that, but the thought of hurting Kennedy so much bothered her. She hoped Kennedy would like Yretmond and find peace with what happened.

 

For a while, there were a lot of news on what had caused the magical rift, but there were rumors brewing about some sort of group with at least one powerful warlock searching for something in Yretmond. That wasn’t exactly uncommon, Yretmond was known for having powerful Artifacts lost in it, the town had a very special magic going on, which caused the amount of supernatural occurrences in it, almost enough to rival a Hellmouth.

Tara had been able to feel the magic on the place, which was so very different from Sunnydale but also really powerful, ever since she got there, but things were more intense now. She didn’t know what yet, but she knew that something was going to happen there, maybe really soon, and something told her this group had something to do with it.

“I may have found something on the guys we’re looking for,” Kennedy announced as she got into the Headquarters, she had been working well with them, even if her decision to stay around still confused pretty much everyone. “Apparently one of them is rumored to be the, like, most powerful sorcerer in the world, name’s Twilight or something. Not sure if that makes any sense, but that’s what a Demon I convinced to talk said.”

Twilight. The man was a legend, he would be about a hundred years old if he was still around and that was certainly possible with magic. There was a huge possibility whoever was saying they were Twilight was lying, but if someone believed that, then they had to at least have the power to back it up.

“Twilight’s pretty known, actually, but he hasn’t been seen or heard of in years,” Andrew said, a bit of awe in his voice when he spoke of him. “He was supposed to be a good guy, but then something happened and he lashed out against a bunch of people and just disappeared afterwards. He’s just a legend, though.”

If the years dealing with the Scoobies had taught Tara anything, every legend had at least some truth to it. If Twilight was really an enemy they would have to deal with, she wasn’t sure it would even be possible.

“Legend or not, it would certainly help to know more about him,” Robin said simply, turning to his computer.

“Yes, the best we can do right now is research and just generally try to go on business as usual, we don’t know if he’s dangerous yet, the magical rift was clearly an accident – it was too wild to be on purpose – so maybe he won’t be a danger to us,” Tara also started researching on him, but besides talking about how powerful and feared he was, no one seemed to know a single thing about Twilight.

Between researching Twilight and dealing with the two open cases they had, the day went by quickly and everyone went home. Tara managed to fall asleep pretty fast, but when she retained her consciousness even after sleeping, she knew that there was something going on.

_In her dream – and she was somehow sure it was a dream – Tara was in a small town, years in the past. Tara wasn’t a Slayer, but she knew whatever had caused her resurrection had something to do with the Slayer line, considering it was the Activation spell that made her return to normal, so maybe this could be a Slayer dream like the ones she’d heard both Buffy and Faith speak of._

_It was night and a boy that couldn’t have been older than sixteen was walking home, then about five people surrounded him, Tara realized fast those were Vampires._

_“Get away!” The boy said, his face wasn’t clear in the night, but his voice wavered, he was afraid. “I have magic.”_

_The Vampires laughed, regardless of whether or not the boy’s magic was real, none of them seemed to think he would be able to overpower them. He then used a spell to create fire and while that dealt with one of the Vampires, the other four approached him fast and he probably wouldn’t be able to keep going, his magic wasn’t that strong, even if it was impressive for his age._

_Then, from behind the boy, a stake flew right into one of the other four Vampires chest and he turned to dust. A girl was coming in their direction; she had to be a Slayer._

_“Slayer, this has nothing to do with you!” One of the Vampires, the leader, attacked her and the boy watched as she went against him, taking another stake and winning the battle quickly._

_The two remaining Vampires attacked together and she still won, Tara observed as the Slayer helped the boy – who had fallen on the ground at some point – get up._

_“Good spell, the one you used,” She complimented and the boy just kept looking at her, probably still not believing what she had just done. “I am Mira.”_

_“Jack.” He said in return, still looking at her, while Tara was too far away to see the look in his face, Mira laughed at it._

_The scene in the dream changed then, Mira and Jack were there again, but a bit older and Jack was scared as he talked to an old man. “The… Seed of Wonder? What is that?”_

_“It is everything! The reason the world moves, the reason you have magic, the reason it even exists in the first place. The Seed of Wonder is very powerful and it was an honor to serve and guard it my entire life. My time with it is done, however, and you are the one who will do it after me.”_

_“Why would it be me?”_

_“It is your destiny,” Was the man’s only answer and then, before Jack could react, the man led Jack’s hand into the man’s left one. An explosion of magic happened and Mira flew away as the magic went from the man’s body into Jack’s. When the transfer was over, the man fell on the floor, most likely dead, while Jack stayed with his right hand shining with a strong blue hue._

_Jack seemed unable to move for a moment, but as soon as he returned to look at Mira and saw that she was hurt – even if not badly, she was still awake – the strong blue from his hand went to his eyes and a blue energy field started forming around him. Mira got up worried and looked directly into his eyes; the eye contact stayed for a while until Jack went back to normal, and hugged her with his left hand only._

_Jack didn’t seem to be able to move his right hand, though, and when the light faded, the mark that had been on the old man’s left hand before was now there. Jack was now responsible for the Seed of Wonder, the weapon everyone knew to be what had brought magic into the dimension._

Tara woke up then and wondered what the dream had been about – was Jack Twilight? Was he so powerful because of the Seed of Wonder? It seemed unbelievable that a simple human could own something like the Seed, but if that truly was Jack’s destiny, maybe there was something different about him.

But did she have that dream just because of the rumors of Twilight, and was that dream even real at all? Tara realized it was still really late, only two hours after she fell asleep, but the questions that dream arose stopped her from being able to go back to sleep.

She left her room to find Andrew sitting down in the couch watching television, she wondered if he had had another nightmare, but decided she shouldn’t ask. Tara sat down at his side without saying a word and he turned to smile at her.

Andrew slept at some point and Tara made sure he would be at least somewhat confortable in the couch, but she still couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night. When everyone woke up, Tara wondered if she should tell them about the dream, but decided against it, there was a big probability none of that had been real, and even if it were, the whole thing didn’t really answer anything.

Not even an hour after they started working, Tancredo called about an attack at a part of the town. Tara went with Andrew and Kennedy see what was going on.

When they got to the location given by Tancredo, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong at first, until a fireball was thrown at Kennedy, who barely managed to dodge it. “Who’s there? Or are you too afraid to show your face and has to hide to even be able to attack?” Kennedy taunted and sure enough, someone showed up.

Tara didn’t know who she had been expecting, but seeing Amy, whom she had barely met but was able to recognize, was a surprise. Amy threw another spell at them that Tara reflected back at Amy, who avoided the attack as her eyes widened in surprise.

“Huh. I hadn’t been expecting you to actually be useful in battle, impression I got from what I’ve heard of you from Willow, you don’t have much on the way of power.”

“Maybe not, but apparently I’ve got power enough to handle you,” Tara had absolutely no idea where what she had just said even came from, but she didn’t really like Amy, even if she didn’t know her well. It was probably the influence of being around Faith, who had a bit of a thing for trash-talking her enemies.

“You haven’t seen what I’m capable of yet,” Amy attacked then and Tara still managed to block the spell. Their battle kept on for a while and Tara didn’t do much offensive spells, those tired her quickly, but she was really good with defensive ones. Amy seemed to be getting tired faster and Tara realized then that she could actually win.

Tara managed to immobilize Amy and then Kennedy, who saw Tara was tired, attacked, but just as she was about to hit Amy, she got frozen herself, actual ice was covering her body. In surprise, Tara wasn’t able to keep her concentration and her spell on Amy stopped working.

“Yes, I can very much see how well you could handle the entire Slayer Organization by yourself, Amy,” A voice mocked from the side, coming from a man Tara had never seen before but made Andrew gasp. “You’re lucky I was here to cover your ass.”

Tara looked between the man and Andrew, who looked frozen himself at the sight of the guy, and realized who that was. Andrew had a picture of the Trio he looked at sometimes, though Tara hadn’t seen it in months, and the man was in that picture. It had to be Warren Mears.

“So things didn’t go exactly as planned, Warren, but don’t expect me to thank you. Twilight ever hears about what happened here, and you are going down with me, have no doubt,” Amy shot back and Warren smirk faded, it seemed Amy had some sort of power over him, Twilight’s name didn’t seem to be what had Warren scared.

“Never mind, Amy. Let’s just go before the Slayer goes back to normal, this isn’t as good a version of the Freeze Ray as the original one, so the ice melts itself really fast. I’m trying to fix that,” Warren and Amy started leaving and both Tara and Andrew just didn’t know how to react to what was going on, Warren stopped and looked to Andrew. “It has been a while, Andrew. I missed you.”

Warren and Amy disappeared right after that and Andrew visibly didn’t know what to do, though Tara was sure she had heard him mutter something along the lines of ‘missed you too’. Tara sighed, she didn’t know how Warren was around, but that complicated things, especially considering Andrew’s unresolved feelings for him.

“Warren’s back,” Andrew said as they waited for the ice in Kennedy’s body to melt. “How is Warren back?”

“I don’t know,” Tara wanted to be able to say something to him, but she had no idea what she was supposed to do. “But we’ll find out.”

Andrew nodded, but still seemed torn. Just a few minutes later, Kennedy became able to move completely again, but she had missed the entire thing after getting frozen and they had to explain.

“Warren. You mean the guy that killed you and Willow killed for it?” Tara winced at Kennedy’s question, she would truly rather not remember what Willow had done after her death.

“Yes, I think either Amy or the person calling themselves Twilight must have resurrected him, though I don’t understand for what purpose.”

“Warren’s smart,” Andrew said quietly. “He’s probably the smartest person I’ve ever met and he’s really good at creating stuff, even robots that look exactly like humans, maybe Amy wanted that?”

An army of Buffybots was a very scary thought, but Tara had the impression this wasn’t what Amy wanted. “Amy’s angry with Willow, right? Resurrecting Warren is probably a good way of getting back at her, though I don’t know how Twilight is part of the story.”

After they got back to the Headquarters and explained what happened, Faith had a suggestion. “This Twilight guy is supposed to be the strongest warlock in the world, right? Willow is right up there, too, she’s probably way more powerful than Amy. Maybe Amy wants Twilight to help her defeat Willow, so she’s helping him in return.”

“That is a very likely possibility. But that just bring the question of what Twilight wants here. Now we have confirmation that whatever it is we have to stop him, I don’t think he would be working with people like what Warren and Amy sound like if he was on the good side,” Satsu said.

“We’ll stop them. Whatever they want,” Andrew said with confidence, his earlier hesitation after seeing Warren mostly gone. Tara felt proud of him for that.

Things were going to be dangerous again. Tara hoped they would be able to win against that group, they were certainly not giving up without trying.


End file.
